Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 354 I NEED A HERO

I came to as I punched someone in the face. He was wearing a skull mask made out of real bone. The bone shattered as my fist connected with his face and my body instinctively shot electricity out. White streaks of lightning jumped into the man causing him to yell and convulse. 

Another 3 men, dressed up just like him came for me. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but didn’t hesitate to knock them out as well. Lightning didn’t shoot out from me this time as I punched them. Focusing Nen into my fists the men were blown back from each blow. 

Flexing my muscles, the body I was in was strong. Very strong. Each movement felt like I was a coiled spring ready to release. Looking around there were more men with the skull masks on, but above me were 2 people flying and fighting. One was a man dressed up like Skeletor, or he was Skeletor, I didn’t know. He had a purple cloak, skull face, and he was throwing fireballs at a woman. The woman was flying around and shooting balls of white energy at him. 

Hitting another skull-guy who I assumed was a henchmen I found a woman laying on the ground with a phone. She was filming the fight going on overhead. I grabbed the phone from her and flipped the camera around to face me. I was wearing a white face mask over my eyes, but my memories began to pour in as I received the notification. 

I was Weston Walker. 23 years old. I lived in the city of New Castle. By day I was an up and coming trust fund recipient. By night. or more accurately most of the time, I was the superhero Chargefist. “Fucking stupid name,” I mumbled as the memories continued to roll in. 

My parents were rich, but not dead. Having felt a major calling for hero work after being kidnapped as a child, I took on the identity of Chargefist after my Power awoke when I was 16. Most everyone in the world had a superpower, but like in MHA, they were usually simple and stupid powers like I can pee gatorade or plants turn red when I walk by. I was one of the lucky few that had a mildly strong Power. 

Able to charge my body with electricity I used it on my fists. Hence my hero name, Chargefist. “Changing that asap,” I mumbled as the quest appeared. 

I whistled as I read the reward. I had received the Quirk Forge in My Hero Academia a long time ago. I hadn’t expected to receive another. Which was odd. Why didn’t I receive a quest for my Power on my Status Screen instead? 

Another henchman of Dr. Death heading my way I charged my fist with electricity. Instead of waiting for him to come to me I punched out and the electricity hit him hard. His body convulsing I was surprised how easy it was to control the power. The old Weston had no idea how to throw the power, but it was a little like my Devil Fruit. A part of my brain that activated and controlled it. Sending it shooting out was only natural. 

Looking up to the fight going on above our heads, Dr. Death was the Skeletor villain. His opponent was the hero of the city, Lady Day. Wearing a white mask like my own, she had a white cape, and yellow spandex for her main costume. Like a smoking hot Saitama. A black sun emblazoned on the front of the tights, barely holding anything in spandex, I had been her on again off again sidekick for years. We were on again currently. 

But Lady Day was struggling against Dr. Death. Her white solar energy beam losing out to Dr. Death’s fire and death ray she was getting pushed back. I moved closer to them, knocking out another 2 henchmen on my way to the cubicle walls of the bank.

Jumping up to one of the thin walls I shot a bolt of electricity at Dr. Death. It didn’t affect his skeletal body. Basically a mix of Dr. Manhattan and a necromancer the guy was almost immortal. The small shot was enough to get his attention though. He moved over to me, angry at the interruption. When he got closer I forced Nen into my fist. Jumping over the black death ray he sent at me I punched him with all I had. 

His skull was knocked from his body and the skeleton dropped like a puppet whose strings were cut. Landing on the ground easily I moved to where his skull had landed. “You fucking piece of shit!” He yelled, the skull trying to bite me as I wrapped it in my own cape. “I’ll k-” he was cut off as I stuffed cloth into the jaw so he couldn't talk. 

“Nice job, Chargefist,” Lady Day said as she landed next to me. “I had trouble getting so close.” She reached out for the skull. Since Dr. Death was immortal the skull controlled everything. Knocking it away from the skeleton was all you needed to do to eliminate most of his power. He somehow took strength from bones of other people. He would be useless until he broke out of prison and got another corpse body. 

“No problem,” I said, handing her the cape and skull. “Don’t call me Chargefist anymore. Call me…Tesla,” I decided on with a shrug. My memories of this Earth told me he never existed in this world, so it was good enough. 

“Ooookay,” she said slowly. Walking away I looked down to her ass, but it was quickly hidden by her white cape. I wasn’t sure why this was considered a smut world, but I looked forward to finding out. 

—

Lady Day and I were part of a group called the Sentries. Basically the Avengers, we focused on New Castle city. A group of 6 to 12 super heroes depending on the drama going on. We worked from the top floor of the largest building in the city, Sentry Tower. I couldn’t fly, of course, but Lady Day could. 

After the police took Dr. Death and his henchmen away she carried me to the Tower. As she flew and I hung onto her I thought about what to do. After receiving my Power Forge I wanted to make sure I did it right this time, but this wasn’t MHA. Where the main cast of MHA were all kids training to make the world a better place, this Hero World was far from perfect. 

On 2 separate occasions Lady Day had gotten sun poisoning. Her power derived from solar energy the poisoning caused her to leak cancerous gamma rays. It was well hidden, but she had inadvertently killed over 20 people during those instances. And possibly gave a few hundred cancer, me included. Another time she was mind controlled and was a villain for a few weeks. She mercilessly killed a lot of people when that happened. But heroes in this world were given a pass for bad things. Something old me hated immensely. 

Since she was the strongest hero in the city I decided I wouldn’t mind taking her Power with the Forge. 

I clicked yes. 

“Fuck,” I said. I didn’t think that was a thing. I had only tried the Quirk Forge on Muscular in MHA. I wondered if I would need a higher grade to make it work. 

“What’s that?” She asked, wind roaring in my ears as we came to the tall tower. 

“Nothing,” I said. 

She frowned. “You alright? Maybe you should have Medici look at you?” Lady Day’s Haki leaked worry. 

“I’m fine,” I assured. We arrived on the balcony and walked into the spacious top floor. A few heroes sitting around watching TV, they asked us how things went but I soon left to find my next target. 

Nightwalker was the 2nd strongest in the Tower. Able to disappear into shadows he was my best bet to steal a Power. I knew all of these people, but old me wasn’t a fan of any of them. Nightwalker was a twisted version of Batman. By twisted I meant he didn’t do the job for noble reasons. Nightwalker had a history of peeping, at the minimum. Originally joining the group to stave off prison time after he got a little too fixated on a girl, he wasn’t the best of role models, but the city loved him because the police kept it quiet. 

I found him sitting in the dark on a computer. He practically threw his computer away as soon as he heard me coming. Obviously up to no good I tried to use my Power Forge on him as well. Again I was met with an error. 

“Fucking hell,” I said, leaving him to whatever porn he was watching. Walking around the Tower I thought of who next to try. It was quite obvious in hindsight. I didn’t need the strongest Power, I needed the most important. 

Medici was an older woman. Impossibly old. Supposedly she was the mother of all medicine. Having lived for thousands of years, her power was to heal herself and others. There wasn’t anything that could help me more in my Challenges than healing. It was a reach, but I decided to give it a try. 

“Hey Medici,” I said, walking into her infirmary. She was older, appearing to be in her 40s. Long black hair, she wore a tight doctor’s jacket that hid her curves. 

“Weston,” she said with a nod. “I was coming to see you. Lady Day says you were acting weird. We don’t want another Mindmatter incident. Do you mind submitting to a scan?” She asked. Mindmatter was the villain that had controlled Lady Day. 

“Not at all,” I said. Trying one final time. This time I got a different message when I brought it up. 

I guessed that was sign enough that I could use it on her. This was the same message I got before using the quirk Forge on Muscular all those years ago. I decided to be smart about it this time. As I sat on the hospital bed and she scanned me with a device I asked, “How does your Power work, Medici?”

“My Power?” She asked. “What? Why?” 

“Just curious. You’ve been using it a long time. Has it evolved from how you got it? I am trying to dig into my own. Trying to figure out if I can do more,” I admitted. Trying to act nonchalant about the information. 

“Nope, hasn’t changed much,” she said. The device scanning my head beeped as she spoke. “My power isn’t too powerful in a fight. But it is a godsend off the battlefield. I tell other people’s bodies what to do.”

“Like what?” 

“Like heal,” she said. “Or stop pain. Increase chemicals going to certain areas. I mostly talk to people’s nervous and immune system, but most anything is open to me.” 

“How do you use your power?” I asked, quite intrigued. 

“Comes naturally,” she said. “As I talk to people’s bodies, they talk to me. I can know where people are hurting. What ails them without asking a question. Kind of a…voice of the body.” 

I nodded, slowly understanding. “Anything else cool about your Power?” I asked. My heart rate increasing. I was going to do something I had always wanted to do. 

“No, I’m a 1 trick pony,” she said. Setting the scanning device down she asked, “You look good, anything else?”

“One more question,” I said. “Last year, when it came out that you were responsible for killing thousands of people, testing on them during the Black Plague. Was that true?”

Her Haki leaked fear, anger, revulsion, and mostly lies. “No,” she said. I could tell she was lying.  I nodded and brought it back up. 

Old me hated every single one of these supposed heroes. He had idolized and worshiped them until he was strong enough to become one of them. But after years I knew each hero was a danger to themself and everyone around them. They all had their own dark history. All but me. I had been the Midoriya of this world. Hoping that they were worth it, but none were. Not even the healer was without her own dark history. 

I clicked Yes.

I could feel the Spiritual Energy moving from her into me. Slowly but surely the dim white energy leaked into me, becoming a part of me. Then abruptly it cut off. Waiting for the pain I watched as Medici began to scream. Her perfect body turned gray. As wrinkles formed on her face and hands, she began to writhe on the floor in pain as she became a withering husk. I guessed her healing power really had kept her alive. 

Not enjoying the sight of the justice that was being done to her, I waited and the pain assailed me. Cursing, I tried to fight the pain as it all hit me. My body mixing her Power with my own somehow. Other heroes began to rush in as I blacked out.